Motorcycle Sale Best Practice

[Pappy35]

Hey all, I'm selling a motorcycle and would like to list it on the usual sites (here, Cycletrader, etc.). I have never sold a motorcycle online before and thought I poll you all to see what best practices are like these days. Money order, bank transfer, cashiers check. What's you preferred method to make sure you don't get robbed?

[TSConver]

Cash always works

[BobW03]

Toss up, when I bought my 2011 the seller requested cash saying bank checks can be forged. Problem was that my bank said they only can give me 5000.00 without prvious notice. The seller agreed to take the 5K cash and a bank check for the balance as I called him from the bank describing the issue.  I never thought I would have my own bank tell me there is a limit unless notified.

 

 

When I sold the 2011 the purchaser gave me an envelope of 100 dollar bills. He was local so I was not worried about fraudulent cash.  So for my 2 purchase and sale cash seems to be better.

 

When I bought the current 2016 I used a cashiers check from my bank .

 

One other thing to think about is do you want a possible buyer to know your address immediately? Mostly craigslist would be a concern. If you have other items you dont want the potential buyer seeing, ask to meet at local P.D. and then that person can follow you home. Eliminates any scammers or someone 'casing the joint'.

 

 

 

[chrisolson]

 

41 minutes ago, Pappy35 said:

What's you preferred method to make sure you don't get robbed?

In the end, its what YOU feel most comfortable given your interaction with the buyer. 

 

Cash is king as mentioned but it sorta depends on how much .. once you start getting over 4-5 thousand it can be a problem .   Particularly when you go to deposit over $10K cash in your bank ... bells start going off   

 

I wouldn't trust money orders regardless of the amount ... cashiers checks are slightly better if drawn against a known banking entity ... but still its just an unknown piece of paper.

 

Bank transfer is excellent, but may be hard to coordinate time wise between the buyer's bank and yours and delivery of the bike . 

 

Lastly , If cash is impractical or impossible, I'd ask the buyer or their representative to meet at my bank where his funds could be verified.  

 

Also... states have different rules about titles so if the buyer is out of state,  its helpful to understand buyer's expectations vs what your state practices are.

[TEDZ]

I've done the cash and title transfer in a bank lobby when selling.  Cash goes right to the bank.

[Skywagon]

I had a guy do a strange thing when I bought a boat from him.  I took him to my band where I have a personal relationship.  We went in, met the officer, bank cut him a check on the spot.  He asked them to open an account in his name with that check.  They promptly did....then he went to the window, closed the account, and withdrew the cash.  I'll be darned if I have any idea why he did that.  I don't know why he just didn't walk to the window and cash the check if he wanted cash.  Opening and closing an account seemed quite silly....

[szurszewski]

7 hours ago, BobW03 said:

never thought I would have my own bank tell me there is a limit unless notified.

Unless you bank with a large bank and go to a main/large branch, they probably have less cash on hand than you think. 

[John Ranalletta]

8 hours ago, Skywagon said:

I had a guy do a strange thing when I bought a boat from him.  I took him to my band where I have a personal relationship.  We went in, met the officer, bank cut him a check on the spot.  He asked them to open an account in his name with that check.  They promptly did....then he went to the window, closed the account, and withdrew the cash.  I'll be darned if I have any idea why he did that.  I don't know why he just didn't walk to the window and cash the check if he wanted cash.  Opening and closing an account seemed quite silly....

Can only guess the it was a cashier's check of some sort.  When I sold a large quantity of equipment the buyer said he'd pay with a cashier's check. I asked for a copy of the check in advance and asked my bank to confirm the issuing bank had the cash to back it up.  Strange he opened/closed an account to get the cash unless he needed a "trail" to substantiate the source of the cash.